MUMBAI, April 23 -- Taking serious note of the death of 13 people ahead of the monsoon in 2025 due to consumption of contaminated water in the tribal-dominated Melghat region, the Bombay High Court has directed the state government to initiate emergent steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur and potable water is supplied across the region. With the monsoon approaching, lapses could worsen, a division bench of justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Hiten S Venegavkar warned on April 15, while hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) regarding infant and maternal deaths due to malnutrition in Melghat. The judges were speaking after senior advocate Jugalkishore Gilda, appearing for some of the petitioners, flagged an incident from Dharni tehsil in Melghat last year, when 13 people died after drinking contaminated water. Gilda said that while wells in the region had started drying up with the onset of summer, the dues of fuel pump operators had reached Rs.31 lakh, affecting diesel supply to mobile health vans. In response, additional government pleader Bhupesh Samant informed the court that adequate compensation had been disbursed to the families of those who had died last year. The court, however, expressed its displeasure over the shortage of clean drinking water. "We are concerned, not about the quantum of compensation being paid to the near relatives. What concerns us is that there are deaths that are occurring due to shortage of potable water," the division bench said. On January 19, the court had directed the state government to submit a detailed compilation of various court orders since the 1990s, when the PILs were initiated, along with details of compliance measures taken. The court had also ordered the authorities to submit a "future roadmap". On April 15, relying on status reports of compliances and proposed district hospitals at Dharni, Chikhaldhara and Churni in Melghat, the court remarked, "State should now become proactive and consider the reports on urgent basis giving it a highest priority". "We are informed that the reports contain deep study about tackling problems which are normally noticed in tribal areas. If this be so, we would appreciate it if the state government promptly accepts the report as a research paper on the study of the various problems in tribal areas and prepares a blueprint for dealing with the suggestions made in such reports", the bench observed....